PC gaming can be an incredibly rich and rewarding experience that doesn’t have to break the bank. Here’s how to build a gaming rig on a budget of less than US$1,000 [AU$1,500].
With this build, not only will you be conquering gaming on 1080p and 1440p, but it will even be the perfect jump-off point for 4K gaming and VR!
CPU: AMD RYZEN 5 3600 [$175]
Let’s start by finding the perfect CPU for our budget. Intel has long since been the king of PC gaming processors, with its crown being relatively unchallenged for quite a while. This has changed with the arrival of the Ryzen processors which can provide almost the same performance for a better price point.
For our processor, we’ve chosen the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 for around $175. Its Intel equivalent – the i5-9600K – not only has the higher price point at around $240, but it would also require a more expensive Motherboard to boot.
Motherboard: MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC [$150]
The best motherboard to go along with your Ryzen 5 3600 is the MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC. Aside from looking gorgeous, it also has integrated Wi-Fi, RGB, and the best Voltage Regulator Module of any of the B450 model motherboards, providing you with the best conditions to overclock your processor should you choose to do so.
And it’s not too heavy on the wallet either at $150.
GPU: XFX Radeon RX 5700 XT [$390]
The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT can go head to head with the more expensive Nvidia RTX 2070 Super while managing to hold its own. Don’t let its lower 3DMark scores fool you.
In various videogame benchmarks, the RX 5700 XT not only kept up well with its counterpart, in some cases, it actually surpassed it. It may not have the RTX 2070 Super’s patented Raytracing technology, but the 5700 XT gives a better bang for your buck.
The XFX Radeon RX5700 XT goes for around $390, compared to the EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 Super, which is around $510.
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 3200MHz [$77]
For the RAM, we opted to go with the G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB. Since most games nowadays have an 8GB minimum RAM requirement, we thought we’d give you a little bit more legroom.
Plus, RAM is one of the cheaper components you can buy on PC. This will cost you around $77.
SSD: Crucial MX500 500GB SSD [$74]
Hard Disk Drives are a thing of the past. It’s all about the SSDs now. And while there are a lot of great SSDs out there, we went with the Crucial MX500 500GB SSD for its solid performance and general reliability.
This should cost you around $74.
Case: NZXT H510 [$70]
The NZXT H510 is a great case that gets a lot of love for its roominess and great cooling. Its price isn’t too shabby either at around $70.
Power supply: EVGA 600 BQ, 80+ Bronze 600W [$60]
A setup like this shouldn’t warrant any more than a 450-watt power supply, but we figured we’d give you a bit of a buffer, so we went with the EVGA 600W BQ for about $60.
Total gaming rig cost: $996
This puts our total at around $996, which is just under the $1,000 mark. That’s a great price to pay for a rig that will play almost all upcoming AAA games for the foreseeable future at 1080p and 1440p, with all graphics settings maxed out.
Welcome to the Master Race.